Nearly Headless Nick, watching the generations
by TheHarryPotterNinja
Summary: He'd seen so many students, followed them through the years. And after a long time, he followed their children, and grandchildren. He followed generations by generations go by. But Was it? No? Could it really be?
1. Chapter 1, Could it really be? Harry?

He glided out through a wall and made his way into the great hall. He looked over the four tables, smiled to a few Gryffindor students on their way out of the great hall and continued looking for a seat by the Gryffindor table. He saw one, up by the end of the table next to a young girl, with bright blonde hair flowing down her back, all the way down to her waist, must be a seventh year student he thought. She was a head girl, judging by the badge on her robe. He was almost there, by the open seat when something else caught his attention.

No?...

Was it?

Could it really be?

…

The Potter boy? _Harry?_

No. It wasn't possible, Harry was all grown up now, he was working in the ministry of magic, Harry made his goal, he was an auror, Nick was sure of that. McGonagoll told him about it when she'd gotten the letter Harry sent her with the good news.

But there he was, sitting by the Gryffindor table.

He had to talk to this boy, and now he was just a few feet away from him, but then, the boy got up from his seat said goodbye to his friends and started walking out of the hall. Nick decided to follow this boy, but as the boy had gotten up the staircase and a few steps down the west corridor he noticed the ghost following him.

The boy stopped, and slowly turned around. Nick considered just disappearing through the nearest wall, but his curiosity was holding him back. The boy smiled at him and greeted him with a polite _"hi"_ and continued by saying _"my father told me I'd be seeing you, __Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington." _Not expecting hearing anything like this from the boy, Nick was chocked by this saying, but all he managed to reply with was just the two words "_your father?"_ and a very, very confused look on his face. _"yes. He told me a great deal about you, like your 500th death day party." _Nick moved a little bit closer to the boy and said _"So you're…"_ but he wasn't sure what to say next, and just stopped mid sentence. But the boy understood where he was going. He smiled and said:

_"My father is Harry Potter… I am James Potter" _

The boys grin while telling Nick this was so wide, and he looked so proud.

"_well… it was about time I've met you, young Mr. Potter"_ Nick said, with a rare smile. He didn't smile like this very often. _"You're here all by yourself?"_ Nick asked. James understood what Nick was wondering. _"my brother and sister aren't old enough to go to Hogwarts yet, Albus Severus and Lily Luna are still at home with mom and dad. Hugo is also too young, but Rose is here"_

Nick smiled to the boy looking at him with twinkling eye, he looked so pleased to finally meet him, imagine that, someone was happy to see old Nicholas. _"Who's this Rose and Hugo?"_ Nick asked, he understood that Albus Severus and Lily Luna was the two remaining Potter children, so typically for Harry to name his children like that. Much could be said about Mr. Potter, but one thing no one could deny was the fact that he was a fine man. But Nick couldn't quite place the last two children James spoke of, Rose and Hugo. He knew he'd heard the names before, but who where they?

"_They're my cousins. Ron and Hermione's kids of course"_ the boy giggled, like he remembered something fun. _"of course they are"_ said nick, with a smile, brighter than ever before.

James noticed the change in Nick's smile, and looked a bit confused. But he wasn't sure if he could ask why. "I remember back when your father and his friends was in their first year here at Hogwarts" he smiled and sighed, before continuing _"The way young Mr. Ronald looked at Miss Granger was just heartwarming, he looked at her like the way a blind man looks at the sun for the first time. He'll never admit it, but he loved her since the first time he led eyes on her."_ Like the young boy he was James, he wrinkled his nose and said "eww" as he giggled simultaneously. _"The same goes for your father, oh. He loved his Ginny from the start" _Nick continued, he let his mind wander back, his eyes faded in to the past along with his thoughts.

He'd seen so many students, followed them through the years. And after a long time, he followed their children, and grandchildren. _He followed generations by generations go by_.

The though made him both happy, and very sad at the same time.

He shook his head, and returned to the present time. James was looking at him; his face was glowing of questions he didn't dare to ask.

"_I'm just an old soul, young Mr. Potter. Never mind me. Run along now. You're probably late for class… You'll be running in to me again sooner or later"_ Nick said with a smile, he enjoyed the thought of talking more to the son of Harry and Ginny Potter.

James checked the watch on his left wrist; his eyes widened as turned around and started running back down the stairs and towards the green houses. _"Neville is going to kill me if I'm late for my first class of his!"_ he murmured.

Nick hadn't moved. He was floating mid air following the running boy with his eyes. Even when he was out of sight he was floating at the same spot as before. Nick shook his head again, not to clear his thought like before, but simply out of habit, a human reflex, and floated away, down the west corridor.

He didn't have any particular destination in mind; he just floated though the castle. And a little voice in his head, that hoped he'd run in to other familiar faces. Maybe he'd meet Rose Weasley, or the Malfoy boy, Scorpius.

_Oh, this would be a great time to be at Hogwarts,_ Nick though.

So many children, so many children of previous students he'd followed through the hardest, most challenging time of Hogwarts history. Imagine what their kids would be like.

Nick was happy about the thought that he, of all, could see the children of the greatest generation of all grow up. _See them grow up in peace. _


	2. Chapter 2, The King of Hogwarts

He made his way out through a wall, not bothering to use the door. Amused he saw that his exit through the wall made a hufflepuff girl jump, out fright. She hadn't expected a ghost coming out through a wall, when the door was just a few feel further down the hallway. He chuckled, as she rushed on, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Even though he'd been a ghost for over 500 years, he still found it funny to scare students. Even though, it was by accident.

But it was this one student. He'd never been able to sneak up on, even when he really tried.

Fred Weasley, the second. He was so much like his father, and his uncle. Trying to sneak up on him was as useful as waterproof tea bags would be. Sir Nicholas had tried to scare him, so many times, and failed every time. It was a challenge even Peeves had trouble with, but he was more successful than what Nick was.

But Nick was determined to do it. If only one time. They've even made a bed on it. The ghost vs The boy. The one who managed to scare the other first would be _the king of the castle_. A silly title, but it was Fred who'd set the terms of their bet.

Nick knew it was childish of such and old gentleman, but these childish games was something of a highlight in his otherwise eventless life.

Even though he hadn't thought of it at the time, looking back made him realize it was important to Fred, to be king of the castle. He was so much like his father, so being _the king of Hogwarts_ would mean the world to him. It was no secret Fred and George Wesley had discovered more of Hogwarts than any other student through time. So getting the silly, childish little title would really make him feel like he'd been living up to his father and his twin's reputation.

Sir Nicholas was gliding through a 6th floor corridor without a though in his mind, when he noticed something, or rather heard something that made him notice. Footsteps. Someone was following him. It could be a student on his or her way to a common room or a class, but he was far away from any of the common rooms, and the closest classroom was far away from where he was at the moment. And when he thought about it, it wasn't the time for a student to be walking the corridors; it was still time to be in class. So whoever following him wasn't doing it by coincidence was the conclusion the ghost ended up with.

Nick didn't want to stop, or turn around to look, because that would give away his knowing of the person following him.

So he just kept on gliding carelessly through the corridor.

…

But this got a bit boring after a while. The one following him didn't manage to get any closer, nor did he give up.

Sir Nicholas was pretty sure it was Fred who was following him. But he wasn't sure. But who else would spend so much time and energy following him? Yes, he was sure, or almost entirely sure of the fact that little Fred Weasley was following him. Probably trying to scare him, but now that the ghost was aware of his shadowy follower it was no use. And if he made Fred realize that he'd been notice would take away some of his spirit, Nick though. So instead of pretending to notice him, the ghost made a turn to the right and through a wall.

With that exit Fred could try again later, and at the same time he wouldn't know that he'd been noticed.

…

A few days later Sir Nicholas was gliding through a corridor, he realized he was on his way towards the room of requirements. When he was at the end of the corridor facing the mysterious room he noticed someone entering the room. A redheaded someone, it was Fred. What business did he have there? Why would he spend time in there when there were so many more interesting places in the castle?

Nick decided to follow after him. He wanted to know why Fred was going in to the room of requirements.

He hurried so the room wouldn't turn in to a cupboard, like it usually did when someone tried to follow. But since he was a ghost he wasn't sure it that would happen. He'd never bothered to figure it out. But he was about to.

The door closed behind Fred, and a second later, the ghost followed through the door; that was now fading away.

…

The room he entered was filled with all kinds of things. It looked like a storage room for everything lost, hidden, broken or forbidden, collected through the years. Pretty much like the room Harry had told McGonagall about when the war had ended. This must be the rebuilt version of the room, Nick though. And this was "new" items filling the room. There were shelves filled with books, some very old looking, other looked quite new, not even opened. Other shelves were filled with all sorts of imaginable potions, broken or half melted kettles and worn out robes. It was even a mountain made of old trunks going all the way up to the ceiling.

_Why in the world would Fred go in here?_

_And where was he?_ Nick couldn't see him anywhere in sight.

He looked to his left, and right for every isle of mess he passed on his way through the room, but Fred was nowhere to be seen.

Nick was about to give up, when he hear a sound. It wasn't something strange about that. This old room was filled with all kinds of things that was on the break of falling down, and things that actually was quite noisy. But the sound that caught the ghost's attention was different. He didn't know what, or who made the sound. But he decided to find out, with a small voice in the back of his mind telling him, the source of this noise was Fred.

And as the ghost passes by a large and never before seen statue of some old wizard, wearing some glorious robes, which made him look a little royal. Guessing this was one of the old Lords or something in that matter. But Sir Nicolas couldn't care less about this old statue at the moment. He was looking for the source of the noise, _he was looking for Fred._ And after passing just a few more never before seen things, Nick glided around a corner, and froze.

What he saw, was something he hadn't seen in many, many years. It was a huge, glorious mirror. With the writing _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi_ around the frame surrounding the mirror. _How could it be?_ Hadn't Dumbledore gotten rid of it; all those years back, back when Harry Potter found it in his first year? But when he came to think about it, putting the mirror in this room was equal to getting rid of it. It was impossible to find it here.

Or… Not impossible.

Fred had obviously found it, because he was sitting right in front of it, looking at something that only seemed like his own reflection to Nick. But he knew better. He knew that only Fred could see his own deepest desire in the mirror, and a bystander would only see it as a regular mirror.

The ghost hesitated_. Should he just go back the way he came, and pretend he hadn't seen anything? Or, should he talk to Fred? _

In the end, his curiosity got the best of him. He couldn't pretend like he hadn't seen anything, he wanted to know why the great adventurer, who's goal was to discover more of Hogwarts than any other person, ever, would spend his time, just sitting in front of a mirror. And he wasn't just looking at it, the way he was looking at it was just like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.

His eyes were sparkling, from a mixture of tears and joy.

Sir Nicholas decided to pretend to clear his throat. The sound made Fred jump to his feet. He had though he was all alone, not expecting anyone to follow, or even know where he was. The look on his face was sad. Fred knew that the mirror was dangerous, uncl Harry has told him about the time he found it in his first year, and how Dumbledore had decided to hide it from Harry, so he wouldn't go looking for it.

"_Please" _Fred said._ "Please, don't tell anyone I've found it. Please let me keep it."_

His eyes were pleading, begging to keep the secret mirror.

Nick knew it was impossible, the mirror was dangerous, it wasn't without reason Dumbledore had hidden it away from young Harry, so long ago. If Fred kept looking in to the mirror… Nick didn't want to think about what could happen.

_The mirror was dangerous_.

"You know I can't do that" Nick said, his voice filled with compassion. He understood how much it meant to Fred.

"but…" Fred didn't have any words. But his eyes spoke for him. Slowly filling up with tears, but still a hint of stubbornness.

"I understand… I really do understand, but the mirror is dangerous. It can ruin your soul, and what worse are…" Fred didn't say anything, but the questions was written all over his face. So the ghost just kept on talking; "you know the story, from when your uncle Harry fount it?" still no answer, but a little nod, he knew. "Harry saw his mom and dad, and the entire family he'd never known… If I had to guess, I'd say… you can see your uncle, you can see your fathers twin brother?" when the ghost said this the tears started running down young Fred's face. And the sobs were heartbreaking.

"p… pl… please…"

"I can't, I wish I could. But It's just an image, a reflection. But it's also dangerous. It damages your souls. Bit by bit, it drains you. I'll let you sit here, with him, a little bit longer…. You can… say goodbye… but remember, young man, you will only say goodbye to the image, the reflection. The real Fred lives on"

"what do you mean?" Fred asked.

"The real Fred lives on in you, and in your father, and in the hearts of all the people who loved him, he's always with you. Even though you can't see him any more… say your goodbyes now. And go back to your common room, if I find you here again…" the ghost didn't finish the last sentence, but he didn't have to. Fred understood. Even though it hurt.

…


	3. Chapter 3, in the room of requirements

He'd grown tired of watching the students eat for now. So he made his way out of the great hall and started on the stairs to the upper floors. He wasn't sure of where he wanted to go, but anywhere was better than the great hall, where all the students were enjoying a spectacular meal, that made him feel a sting of jealousy. Even though he was used to the fact that ghost couldn't taste anything, he still missed eating… sometimes.

With food still on his mind, a voice calling his name caught his attention. "Nick! Hey! Sir Nicholas! Wait up!" Nick didn't stop but slowed down, and turned half around to see Fred Weasley running towards him, with Louis, his older cousin, following right behind him. What were those two boys up to now? Nick wasn't in the mood for any of their childish nonsense.

"oh, come on! It'll be worth it!" Louis yelled, because he'd seen the doubtful look on the ghosts face.

"what is it?" Nick said with a tone that sounded rather ignorant.

The two boys stopped right in front of him, looked at each other, and then at him. "I know you said, I wasn't supposed to, but I did!" Fred said, with an eager voice, glad that the ghost even wanted to listen. "I know I wasn't supposed to go back to the room of requirements, but I did!" The look on Nicks face made him hesitate, but he continued "… I saw something on my way after… that other time.. you know…"

"Is there a point somewhere in all this babbling?" Sir Nicholas interrupted; he wasn't in the talkative mood.

"Yes! Oh, come on Nick, I promise you it'll be worth it! I.. we want to show you something, would you please just come with us?" Fred said.

"oooh… why?" Nick really wasn't in the mood, so he tried to drag the time out.

"It will be better if we just show you, we're not sure what to make of Fred's discovery" Louis said.

This poked Nick's curiosity a bit. What could it be? But at the same time, he didn't want to give in to their request. After a short debate with himself Nick's curiosity got the best of him.

"okay then. Let's get this over with" he said, trying to make his voice sound tired, and rather bored. "Show the way"

…

Louis closed his eyes and concentrated, and after just a few seconds a door came to view. Fred opened the door, and with a satisfied grin said "after you, Sir Nicholas" by the sound of it he really enjoyed this, whatever _this_ was.

"Show the way young man" Nick said to Fred, trying to keep his dignity, because the boys were giggling of excitement.

They half run in front of him, so he had to speed up a bit to keep up with the giggling boys.

They stopped abruptly, the ghost hadn't expected that so he glided right through Louis, who shivered, but didn't say anything about it.

"what?" Nick said. He didn't understand what they found so special about this spot, they were surrounded by nothing but mess. A bookcase filled with old and dusty herbology books, a pot with some sort of a half dead plant in it, a pile of broken telescopes, the statue he passed the last time he was here and a stack of ancient brooms.

"Look around you" Fred said.

"I have, I don't see why you're wasting my time, there's nothing but mess here" he said, sounding rather grumpy.

"Look again!" Louis insisted.

There must me something here, Nick though. But he didn't understand what. So he looked around, using the process of elimination to find out what they wanted to show him. It couldn't be the old Herbology books, nor the brooms. And certainly not all the broken telescopes. The plant was. Uhm.. not it he concluded. The only thing left it could possibly be was the statue.

A life size statue of some old wizard wearing some glorious looking robes. He remembered thinking it made the statue look royal or something in that matter. What was it about this statue they wanted so show him? Did he come to the wrong conclusion? It had to be something about the statue? Hadn't it?

"What's so special about this poor excuse for a statue?" Nick asked. He wasn't in the mood for guessing games; he just wanted to be alone again.

"You don't see it?" Fred asked, with amazement in his voice, and he looked over at Louis, rather confused.

"See what? If I may ask"

"Look at his face! I bet you know him" Louis laughed and pointed at the stature, but an elbow to his rib delivered by Fred stopped the laughing. Fred and Louis had equal smiles on their faces, excitement mixed with expectation.

Nick turned around to take a closer look on the statue.

"No! it's not possible! It's just not! How can it be?" The ghost moved towards the, oh, so familiar face on the statue. How come he hadn't noticed it the last time he saw it?

He was standing right in front of it now.

_Standing face to face with the statue._

"So you think you don't know him?" Louis asked. With some laughter still left in his voice.

Nick just ignored him. Because the statue he was looking at was no other man than _Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington. _

"but…it… it… it is me…" he finally said. All his previous thought was long gone, and all that was left was this statue.

"still think it's a waste of time being here?" Fred asked.

Nick was out of words, by far. He just turned half around, and looked at the boys. And back at the statue. The boys realized that a reply was highly unlikely, so they decided to leave him alone. They made their way out of the mysterious room and to the Gryffindor common room.

The ghost was left alone in the room of requirements...

_Left alone with himself…_

…

_All alone, with his own memories from his time as human…_


	4. Chapter 4, the most clever of them all

After spending most of time leading up to sunrise floating around in the corridors, not really patrolling, it was no need for that in the nighttime, everyone in the castle were asleep. But he did it anyway, just to kill the time. But he'd grown tired of it, and he hadn't seen a student yet, so he decided to check the Gryffindor common room.

He was down by the main entrance, so he made his way to the common room in no time, one of the benefits of never sleeping was having time to discover all the hidden paths within the castle.

Before he knew it he was looking at a portrait of a rather plump woman, she was sleeping, but he didn't need to wake her, he just floated straight through, and entered the common room.

He looked around, looked at the roaring fire in the fireplace, a house elf muse just have left, or else the fired would have run out by now Nick though. He stood there for a while, looking at the dancing flames. He missed the heat, he missed feeling the warmth of the flames on his skin. But it felt peaceful, just looking at them, so he didn't mind.

When he'd grown tired of watching the flames he looked around.

The room was almost completely empty; no one was awake yet…

A read headed girl was curled up in one of the big armchairs in front of the fireplace, but she too was sleeping, and on the floor in front of her was a book, it was old, the back was tired and the pages was frayed, when he took a closer lock he noticed it was the book "Hogwarts, a history". The ghost grinned; she must have fallen asleep while reading.

Nick stood there, looking at the girl sleeping. He wasn't sure if he should try and wake her, or let her be.

But the sound of another student coming down the stairs made the decision for him. The ghost turned around just to see a familiar face, it was Albus Severus, he noticed the ghost and greeted him with a pretty loud "Hi Nick!"

"shh, everyone else is still asleep, be quiet now"

"oops. I was just looking for Rose, Karen said she's never gone to bed, so I figured she'd fallen asleep down here… again" he said as he rolled his eyes, almost laughing by his own wit.

Albus walked over so he stood right in front of her, looking down at his sleeping cousin.

But he didn't wake her up, just stood there, with a thoughtful look on his face.

"What are you up to?" Nick asked after a minute or so.

Albus didn't reply, he just picked up two chocolate frogs from his robes and tossed one on her, at he said "Happy birthday, sleepyhead" in a sing-song voice.

She woke up with a tiny jolt, and started to giggle.

"Albus! Why did you just toss a chocolate frog at me?"

He looked over at the ghost, who was trying his best not to laugh, because the bewilderment on Roses' face was too amusing, and said:

"Well, maybe because I wanted to be the first one to wish you a happy birthday, silly!"

"oh… thank you cus!"

She jumped out of the armchair and gave him a hug, which he gladly returned.

Neither one of them had noticed the ghost, who'd sat down in one of the chairs next the window, until he spoke

"Aren't you going to see which witch or wizard you got along with your chocolate frog?"

"I really hope I get Merlin" said Rose, ash she started unwrapping the frog.

"I just hope I don't get Agrippa, I must have five of him"

They stood there, with a card each. Both of them looking down at the face of someone Nick couldn't see.

Then they busted out laughing at the exact same time.

"What? What is it?" The ghost asked, this outburst of laughing had made him even more curious.

"I got my own father!" they replied, at the exact same time.

Then they looked at each other, and down on the card the other one was holding, and then laughed even more.

Nick started laughing as well, because he was looking at Rose Weasley, with a card in her hand, picturing her own father, Ronald Weasley. And next to her was Albus Severus, with the card of Harry Potter in his hands.

They all laughed and joked about the cards for a while, even Nick came with a joke. But when other students started coming down the staird Nick decided it was time to leave.

"See you two later" he said as he made his way out. A sixth year boy was walking in front of him, quite slowly, and the ghost didn't bother following behind him, so he just went straight through. The boy shivered but didn't say anything.

Well out of the common room Nick made his way towards the vest part of the castle. He decided to make this detour to the great hall, because no one would be there yet, the students were just waking up.

* * *

><p>As he entered the great hall he immediately noticed the Weasley girl, she was just like her mother, she was sitting close to the end of the long Gryffindor table with a piece of toast half way to her mouth reading some book.<p>

The ghost chuckled and made his way towards her as young Albus caught up with him.

"hello again" he said

"Good morning, Potter" Nick replied, and added "she's just like her mother, always spotted with a book" and nodding towards Rose.

"yeah, she's really clever. I wish I was as clever as her… since I'm rubbish at quidditch... I wish I was best at something"

"oh. I've heard the teachers talk about you, and from what I've heard you're giving your cousin some competition for the best first year student"

"what?" the word was barely a whisper, he was so surprised.

The two reached the spot Rose was sitting, with the toast still half way to her mouth, Nick winked to the stunned boy and sat down next to him as he wished Rose a happy birthday.


End file.
